Virtual Turkey Burn Ride Report: Shiggy's Big Comeback Ride

 Shiggy’s Virtual Turkey Burn Rides

My riding has been spotty, at best, since May. Stalled by physical and mental challenges. The vast majority of my “riding” has been my 3 mile round trip commute on my Bike Friday Tikit folder. Gets me moving. Does little for my fitness. GT’s Virtual Turkey Burn Ride gave me some motivation to break the inertia. The metric century over several days option made the goal possible. 

 The weather was reasonable. High clouds, a few degrees above freezing and dry. The heavy wet snow we received last week was gone except for the mounds from plowing streets and driveways. After work Friday afternoon I chose a neglected bike that is also my most ridden. Elmar, my randonneuring/all road, self built from scratch. Nearly 30,000 miles in eight years. My neglected cold weather gear went onto my neglected body and I rolled out to ride a neglected route.

 

The Apple Capital Recreational Loop Trail is a gem of the Wenatchee WA infrastructure. The original ten mile loop has been enhanced with out-and-back sections on each end, making it possible to ride 25 miles completely off-street. I ride the two miles down the hill to get on the south extension. Wenatchee is on the Columbia River almost dead center in the state. The Cascade Mountains rise to the west. The Columbia Plateau to the east. Downstream is Rock Island Dam, the first completed on the river. I head north and cross on the first bridge built over the river, opened in 1908. Now the key part of the Loop Trail and Mile Post 0. Most of the west side is developed park land. Parks and trail are highly used. Mostly developed and maintained by the Chelan County Public Utility District, “A Benefit of Public Power”. The PUD operates the Rock Island dam and the Rocky Reach Dam to the north.

My body is protesting. My arthritic knee has loosened some, but still stiff. I forgot how to dress for the cold, and it’s not even that cold. Feeling the lack of saddle time since May. My balance is not the best. 

 In May I suffered a significant concussion. Still not sure why I crashed, but I went down quick and hard on my commute home. At near zero speed I tipped over in a turn. No time to react. Hard onto my side. My helmeted head slammed hard on the pavement and bounced. Twice. I didn’t pass out but definitely dazed. I walked the last few blocks home. This was far from my first, or even tenth concussion. It was one of the worst. I knew the protocols and followed them. Mostly. 

The effects were physical and mental. I took time off work, and off the bike. Six weeks later I was still not “right” and saw a doctor, who confirmed I did everything as I should have. Well, everything that we knew at the time. That had changed. In September Rebecca Rusch went public with her three year struggle with concussion recovery in a four part Brain Storm podcast with Selene Yeager, at https://livefeisty.com/category/podcasts/feisty-womens-performance-podcast/#allepisodes 

 https://livefeisty.com/podcasts/132-brain-storm-episode-1-the-crash/ 

 I wish I had Rebecca’s story and information earlier. And her resources. All in all, it has helped and I’m doing what I can to recover. Never neglect a head hit.

 Day One: Back to the Turkey Burn. I kept Day One simple. Get a good start. Ride easy. Ride about half of the 100K. Three of four was not bad. I rode too hard. Basically my problem all summer. Doing more than I should and then lose motivation to go out again. Well, I finished the ride, intentionally using lower gears to keep me from pushing. And I looked around more. Crossed the Columbia again, on the highway bridge that makes The Loop possible. The east side is more natural. I head north on the Rocky Reach Trail. I keep the pace easy. Chat with a guy on roller skis as I pass. Enjoy the views along the river. Cliffs on the other side. I cannot see the tops because of the low clouds. The snow level is 500-600 feet above. Numerous Canada geese are overwintering. Spot my first Bald Eagle of the season. They come for the winter as the Osprey fly south. Hundreds of quail scoot across the trail. Several deer watch my passage. 

The turnaround is at Lincoln Rock State Park, on the reservoir just above Rocky Reach Dam. It’s one of two State Parks with camping, boat launches and services on the route. Now I’m tired and cold, and it’s getting dark. And I’m at about halfway. The ride down the east side was uneventful. Traffic low for the climb back home, and that climb was slow. Elmar has dynamo lights front and rear plus a radar taillight.

  Day Two, Saturday: I had big plans. Ride to Cashmere, 20-ish miles. Have lunch. Warm up. Do a scenic loop in the town where I grew up. Ride home. VTB done! My body questioned that. The day’s ride on Day One exposed muscle atrophy and imbalances I knew were there and were magnified as I became tired. I prepared for the longer ride while planning to assess my condition once on the bike. Weather had not changed. I dressed warmer. Back on Elmar and down the hill. The knee is stiff (limited flexion) and relaxes slightly within a mile. I’m tired. Back across the old bridge and north on The Loop. My pace is much more relaxed than yesterday. It needed to be. I’m happy about that. It quickly became apparent that Cashmere was out. I could have, but at what price? I had tried similar rides this summer. Rides I could complete but were really beyond my fitness. Rather than getting me out more regularly they prevented it as I needed to recover. So, it was just the basic Loop for me.

Wenatchee and the surrounding communities and in valleys. If you ride here, you learn to climb. Even the “flat” rides can have significant slopes. The Loop is a river grade trail but hardly flat. Climbs are short and in the 5-8% range. Friday’s ride had 1150 feet of climbing. 850 feet of that was on the river grade. Does keep it interesting and does the meandering routing. 

I covered the same route as before, without the northern out and back. But slower and easier. Enjoyable. Still missed on dress. Now I’m hot. And cold. How did I forget how to dress? Has my body changed? (spoiler: it has) I spend time figuring out how far I need to ride on Sunday, and where I could go. 

Day Three - Sunday: It’s still just above freezing. Still high clouds. I can’t see the tops of the foothills across the river, let alone the peaks. Mission Peak is 6600 feet tall and only ~10 miles from the river which is at 600 feet. I live less than 2 miles from the river on the East Wenatchee Bench, last ripple of the Missoula Floods, at 1000 feet.

 

I dress better. A thicker wool jersey. Wind vest instead of a shell jacket. I could breathe rather than overheat. Switched to my New Albion Drake for lower gearing and a slightly more upright position. It is the bike I have ridden most this year, other than the commuter. About half way down the hill I turn onto the irrigation canal path. The old bridge included an irrigation pipeline to make the orchards and East Wenatchee itself possible, bringing water from the Cascades many miles away. The flat unpaved path along the ditch winds its way through the neighborhoods, becoming a well-used de facto recreation trail, though it is officially off limits. There is a lone golfer on the course today as I pass. The ditch path is a good warm up and I feel better than I did yesterday. Turn down the street—steep hill—and back onto the east side of The Loop.

 

Seeing a trend here? The Loop makes rides here possible, safer, accessible. Especially if the ride crosses the Columbia River, and often when it doesn’t. It was an essential part of my commute for ten years at a different job. This time I headed south and continued south past the old bridge to another PUD park, with ball fields, boat launch and picnic areas, to complete all of the river trails during the VTB.

Return on the trail to 3rd St to climb back towards home. This is my normal route even though it is longer. It is also the least steep way home with the maximum grade “only” 7%. I still needed 5-6 miles to get my 100K. Halfway home I turned the other direction on the ditch path. This section has thick gravel for a mile or so and is much tougher to ride. Gong south and east the views open and I can see Rock Island Dam in the distance. I will not be going that far today. The canal bridges a ravine and a steep drop as the hillside steepens and houses lower. Here is where I needed the lower gearing. One residential street is more than 15% and the drop on the ditch 20%. Turned around and on home.

104km over three days, not counting Friday’s commute. Needed to  take a day off as my knee was very stiff and sore on Monday. Now to address my muscle imbalances, general strength and regular rides. 

Oh, we had our usual lime juice rosemary marinaded grilled leg of lamb. SO good!

Virtual Turkey Burn Ride Report: Warren's Crew Gets Started

 Turkey Burn Victory Ride(s)

"Talk to me Goose"

For me, any time I get on my bike and start to pedal it is a victory to celebrate. The first block leaving home is up a small hill. Standing up to pedal the hill usually causes me to celebrate the victory by yelling whatever the universal cycling comment ("UCC") currently is among our riding Crew. The current UCC is probably "Talk to me Goose" depending on who is talking or telling the story. Get a flat - Talk to me Goose; Chug a cold Coke at Casey's - Talk to me Goose; Late for a ride/bonk on a ride - Talk to me Goose; Stand up to pedal the hill - well you know.

Everybody Knows Your (Real) Name

Years ago Elden Nelson, aka The Fat Cyclist, had a Friend of Fatty with the nickname _______ "Not His Real Name." I haven't checked with the Crew that I ride with re: using their real names so I'll just say there is a Crew and most of them have real names. When we get together to ride it's something like a Red Bull version of the Cheers TV song "You wanna go where everybody knows your name and they're always glad you came" combined with the drums and guitar (high volume) from your preferred loud rock song. No idea how that would sound musically but that's something like the spark when we gather to ride.

If You Would Have Started Instead of Talking About Starting . . .

A big part of the Crew is going to 2025 Mid South to ride and finish together as a group. The last time we rode and finished an event together it took 14 hours to finish the Flint Hills 125. We could have finished much sooner but for two predictable events: (1) one of the Crew wasn't at the starting line when the gun went off; and (2) a Mennonite thought he could get one more ride on a worn out tire that should have been replaced a month before the event. This fall there's been a lot of excitement and talk about next spring's group trip to Stillwater but relatively few miles have actually been ridden to get ready for Mid South.

When Mark announced the Turkey Burn challenge it sounded like the voice of my Mom saying "If you would have started instead of talking about starting, you'd be done by now." The final words of this familiar phrase were often drowned out by the big spring slamming the screen door shut as my Mom was out the door on the move "Doing" instead of talking about doing.

The Turkey Burn was the start of "Doing" for the Mid South. The Crew dispersed for Thanksgiving, but rode in three states; single speed and geared; inside and outside for a total of 270 combined miles. The Turkey Burn birthed the now weekly Sunday night roll call for total Crew miles for the week. Everybody knows your name and wants to know how many miles you got this week. Without the Turkey Burn lighting the fuse - the Crew would still be talking about starting instead of "Doing." A big thanks thanks to Mark and Mom.

 

So, Did I Actually Ride?

Well in true Victory ride fashion, there were rides that were planned that never happened. The nicest weather for the week in Kansas was for Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving with the goal to get in some big miles, maybe even a night hundo. Actual miles ridden during the nice weather - zero, for a variety of reasons, see last paragraph. Also true of Victory rides were the rides that started but ended up shorter than expected. The first ride came with an unexpected snow storm that made for perfect riding in three inches of untracked powder. Headed up the hill on the bike "Talk to me Goose" and rode three miles before returning home to add sealant to the rear tire (operator neglect). Just as I finished adding sealant it stopped snowing which led to shoveling the snow before everybody walked/drove over it. Short version of a long story - three miles was the ride total for the day - see last paragraph. A non-riding crew showed up and the first batch of Grandma's Red Stuff was produced, followed by the first batch of great Grandma's zwiebach. 

 

3 mile snow ride

 

Red stuff and Zwiebach (A recipe can be seen HERE)

Well Did I Ride More Than 3 Miles?

Yes, yes I did. 30 miles to work to drive home the car I left there when I commuted home by bike. The commute travels the Scenic River Road which is a mostly gravel road that follows the railroad track that follows the Kaw River. I know most of the dogs and dog owners by name and each commute is a big Victory ride.

The crown jewel ride of the Turkey Burn was Sunday afternoon. The plan was to start at the church at 1:00, at 1:05 it was revised to 1:30, at 1:30 there was one rider at the church and two riders "on the way." Talk to me Goose! Glad we were riding together to offset the cold and cloudy weather. We headed out to Scenic River Road on patchy snow until we reached the hilly part of the route in the trees that gets no sun in the winter. After riding up the first small hill we saw that the road was covered in snow/ice and it was decision time. All in-ride decisions are determined by the commandment from the wife of one of the OG's "Don't do anything Stupid." Well "Stupid" is measured, not by what you think in the field, but rather by how it's going to sound explaining your thinking/decision to non-riding family members when somebody has to be picked up in the country or visits urgent care or the emergency room. We rode to the top of the first hill and turned around because it would be hard to explain to those at home that a broken bone from falling off your bike on an icy road wasn't "Stupid." When we got back to town we rode around on the bike path until we hit 30 total miles.

Going forward we owe Mark and the Turkey Burn a big Thank You for getting the Crew started on training for Mid South. A by-product of starting training for Mid South is the winter long good stuff that leads up to doing an event together with a group: rationalizing training rides at unusual hours; results of the Sunday night mileage Roll Call; endless discussions about conditioning, equipment, tires, kit, layers, rain gear, 10 day Stillwater weather forecast; the trip down and back; and maybe even a new UCC. So I guess we owe Mark and the Turkey Burn an even bigger Thank You for all of that too. 

 

Don't Be Stupid Ride

 

The Best for Last Paragraph

 

Below is possibly the best description of why every ride is a Victory ride.  As far as I know none of the Crew ever made Charlie's list, at least not using their real name.

From Charlie Farrow's blog: https://cpfarrow.blogspot.com/2011/02/list-is-here.html    Note:  Charlie's blog should be read only after finishing your ride for the day - never before.  If the link above does not work, Charlie's blog is also linked on Mark's Guitar Ted Productions blog.   

Disclaimer 1: Only old and stressed, albeit “impressive” people are allowed on THE LIST ‘cuz itz easy to do extraordinary things on a bike when a guy is young and fancy free. The older you are the better your chances. So if you are a guy under forty years-of-age without sore knees, a wife, or polyps on your colon, or scars on your shoulders or if you are a young fella without any snotty-nosed kids yanking at your pant-legs or getting’ in trouble at school, or if you are without a hyper-active dog that is constantly “on-the-lam” and/or if you are without a high mortgage payment, or an angry boss, or if you are not given impossible tasks to do at work, or if you are not surrounded by incompetent workers or if you are without exorbitantly high student-loans, or diabetic cats (or the like) then you would have really had to do something incredibly special in cycling in 2010 to make this LIST. A youngin’ that rides hard, eats right, don’t drink, and then goes home to sleep at his parent’s house with nary a worry in the world, of course can do great things in racing!!! Guyz that make The List are under the gun in their day-jobs and in their everyday lives…To them training “aint work,” training is a way to escape reality, to feel FREE! And the actual racing part is easy, itz the after racing part when ya gotta go home and take the dog for a long walk, coach a youth soccer team, or take the kid to hockey practice that really tests these guyz endurance. They don’t dread training, they look forward to training. Most of the time, they have to train at all hours of the day, super early in the morning or late night, if they are gonna “get one in.” These guyz do it all, plus they are darn good cyclists as well, and thatz why they made THE LIST!

Should Have Added "Talk to me Goose"

 One Turkey Burn ride report just about broke me - someone else will have to write the Mid South report. I have no idea how Mark has written a daily post for 20+ years. There must be a big spring on the screen door at his house . . . Thanks again for helping so many people get to "Doing" and V for Victory. WW 

Hey, what a fantastic ride report from Kansas! Thank you, Warren and "The Crew"! Good luck on your preparations for Mid-South. You guys will have an awesome time. Great reference to the legendary Charlie Farrow as well. If you don't know Charlie Farrow, you can glean a bit from his blog, (still there after all these years!) and see maybe what it was about the early gravel scene that was so different than today. Charlie is a treasure, and is one of the criminally under-credited folks in terms of gravel  riding and culture. I know Charlie is still out there riding, but he doesn't seek anyone's approval, 'likes' , nor does he cotton to all this "modern stuff" like social media. Thanks for bringing Charlie some much deserved attention, Warren!

Virtual Turkey Burn Ride Report: Steve's Metric

 This is the eighth, and I 'think' final, installment of Virtual Turkey Burn reports I received this year. NOTE: I VERY lightly edited the submissions where I found a mistake. Images are credited to the authors. Thanks for reading these and for submitting a report if you did so. Remember that some of these reports fall on double-post days, so be sure to scroll down the page to make sure you don't miss any content! 

Well, after many years of reading your wonderful blog (and listening to your podcast), I took the plunge and took up your Virtual Turkey Burn Century. I wasn't sure about doing the full 100 miles, so I figure I could kick out a 100k over the three days. 

 

Day 1 mileage

 

 

Day one was a great day with my wife along the river parkway. She is leading a group of ladies on the paved bike path in the parkway in a couple weeks. So we clocked her ride and were able to get in 27.95 miles on Friday. 

 

Day 2 mileage

 

 

Day two, my friend and I rode the gravel/dirt paths along the parkway. Since our regular lower trail was rather soupy from the higher river levels due to the yearly salmon run. When we took a break, we got to spy some sea lions feeding on the salmon. It looked like a mother and a cub tearing the salmon apart.After departing with my friend I set out to ride some more miles for my century. I had accumulated 57.2 at that point. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day three, I did a quick 5 mile ride to bag my first Virtual Turkey Burn 100k Century!
I plan on doing this next year as it was fun to ride different routes and spend time with my wife and friend.

 

Thanks Steve! What a great looking place to ride! And sea lions? The wild life where you live is juuuuuust a bit different than what I see around here!

 

I 'think' that's a wrap on the reports for 2024. Look for the next post where I break down the overall 2024 VTBRC.

 

Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions! 

Virtual Turkey Burn Ride Report: Ari's Steamroller Ride

   This is the seventh installment of Virtual Turkey Burn reports I received this year. NOTE: I VERY lightly edited the submissions where I found a mistake. Images are credited to the authors. Thanks for reading these and for submitting a report if you did so. Remember that some of these reports fall on double-post days, so be sure to scroll down the page to make sure you don't miss any content! 

Hi there!

Started the ride early Thanksgiving day. The weather was starting to change and for the subsequent days we fell in a deep freeze. I did all of my 100 miles on my trusty Surly Steamroller. I used 42x15 gearing with 28mm tires. The wind and cold were the biggest challenge but I was motivated and focused. Good riding!!

 

Thanks Ari! 100 miles on a single speed is no joke! Especially for how cold it got around Chicago, Illinois, where you live. 

Okay, there is ONE MORE Virtual Turkey Burn Challenge Report! Check that out tomorrow. Thank you one and all for checking these out. I will have my synopsis of this year's rides and more tomorrow. Keep scrolling the page folks! This is a BUSY month!

Virtual Turkey Burn Ride Report: Scott's Iowa Gravel Grind

  This is the sixth installment of Virtual Turkey Burn reports I received this year. NOTE: I VERY lightly edited the submissions where I found a mistake. Images are credited to the authors. Thanks for reading these and for submitting a report if you did so. Remember that some of these reports fall on double-post days, so be sure to scroll down the page to make sure you don't miss any content! 

Looking North from Scott's driveway.

 I don't know if you will use this or not as I did this ride on Tuesday the 26th rather than the dates you had specified. Due to family responsibilities this was the only day that would work for me.  

 Earlier this year I had told a friend that I wanted to ride a century this year as I had never done one that was primarily gravel and I hadn't done one at all since 2007. This looked like it would be my best chance to do this in 2024. I got my son Dylan dropped off at school at 8, was home by 8:15, and was on the bike just before 9. I had care for Dylan until 6 so barring something catastrophic I should have plenty of time. 

When I planned the route I had anticipated a north or northwest wind. The wind Tuesday was from the southwest though. I decided that for better or worse, this was my route since going south takes me quickly to the Des Moines River with no crossings between Runnels and Red Rock and going west takes me into Polk County where there are fewer gravel roads. The maintainer had been in my neighborhood recently so I knew I would have some freshly graded gravel in the first few miles but I was hoping for some winter type smoothness as I got away from home. It turned out that the maintainers had been busy in Jasper, Polk, and Story counties. Thankfully, most of my last 25 miles was in Marion County where the roads were smooth.

My bike for the day was my Salsa Journeyer. With the temperature of 25 when I started and the high for the day of 40 or so I knew clothing choices would play a big factor. While I don't have an old, neglected bike to ride for the day I did wear a jersey/jacket that is more than 25 years old. Under that was a layer of wool, one of silk, and a wind vest. I figured the vest and the silk layer could easily come off if I got warm but I never had to do more than adjust the zipper on my outer layer. I took a chance on my legs and wore a pair of bib tights that I had just gotten and only worn once. I was pretty sure about them being my best chance at keeping to one layer on the bottom half but how would the basically untested chamois hold up all day......turned out great. Nutrition in the cold would also be important. I packed plenty including the bacon and egg rice cakes I had made the previous day. If you don't like or get tired of the sweet stuff these are perfect. They also stayed soft in the cold. I was pretty confident of my fitness but this would be my longest ride in 17 years.

The first six miles were into Prairie City, mostly with a tailwind. After a mile jog west I turned north and found that the maintainer had already gone this way this morning and that he would be coming back as he was only half done. The right side of the road had just been turned over but the left side was yet untouched. I started up the left hoping to get the one mile north before my next turn with no traffic. About a quarter mile in I saw a car coming so I jumped the pile in the middle and rode in the fresh chunk. After meeting the car I could see the maintainer was working his way back to me so it was the chunky stuff for the rest of the mile. 

 

The rest of the first 20 miles was pretty smooth sailing with a nice tailwind and sunshine. At about mile 20 I hit what is probably the best gravel climb in western Jasper County or eastern Polk County. I had been pretty conservative in my pacing so far and stuck with that plan here. Got more of a sweat going than I really wanted to but otherwise felt pretty good. At mile 38 I turned south for the first time. the wind was now 10 mph or so in my face and would be for most of the next 40 miles. It wasn't bad but there were some lengthy stretches that were pretty long grinds, plus the sun was now behind some pretty thick clouds. 

 

Around mile 50 I saw three eagles as I approached a relatively small creek. I am old enough to remember how rare these sighting used to be and always take them as a good sign. This was soon followed by a farmer spraying anhydrous...not such a pleasant experience. About mile 60 I dropped down into the small town of Metz and fondly remembered my old friend John who had grown up there. One of the nicest gentlemen I have ever known. Mile 73 brought me to my one C store, (Convenience store, Editor)in Monroe. After several hours out in the cold by myself I felt a bit like I was walking into a particularly strange land. Water, Gatorade, and a Payday candy bar and I was good to go.

 

 At mile 80 I had a steep hill which fortunately was the last hill into the headwind.  That one hurt as did every hill afterwards. I was a bit concerned because there were lots of hills left at this point as I would be just north of the river on roads that I ride regularly when I want a tough, hilly workout. The wind would mostly be a cross wind and it also felt like it had shifted to be more from the south south east that the southwest it had been in the morning. That and the smooth Marion County roads made the last 22 miles easier than the previous 20 had been. I hit my driveway at mile 102 a couple minutes after 5. Happy I had gotten the ride in and happy to be home. 

 

Thank you for the inspiration.

 

Thank you, Scott! I enjoyed reading this story because I am somewhat familiar with the area Scott rode in having put Trans Iowa race routes through that area several times. For instance, Monroe, Iowa, where Scott stopped for resupply, was a Trans Iowa v6 checkpoint town. 

Stay tuned for one more report! 

Virtual Turkey Burn Ride Report: MuddyMatt's Adventures

 

This is the fifth of several Virtual Turkey Burn reports I received this year. This time from the United Kingdom! NOTE: I VERY lightly edited the submissions where I found a mistake. Images are credited to the authors. Thanks for reading these and for submitting a report if you did so. Remember that some of these reports fall on double-post days, so be sure to scroll down the page to make sure you don't miss any content!

I've been a long-time reader of Mark's writing for many years. As the founder of the Muddymoles  website in the UK, I know just how hard it is to generate content day in, day out. I know I can't manage it with my regular job and responsibilities. That Mark's thoughts are worth listening to make the Guitar Ted website even more valuable to me. So, it was time to contribute something myself. The Thanksgiving Virtual Turkey Burn Challenge was just that opportunity.

MarkJ (L) and Muddy Matt

 Now, I'm not American. As a Brit, the Thanksgiving weekend is not a tradition we celebrate, for obvious reasons. In fact, its easy to see that some populations in the US might have a problem with it too. But my take is it is a moment to celebrate family and community and that has value to me. I like to think this weekend of riding for me was enhanced, knowing others were making their own attempts at Mark's challenge. 

Unfortunately, I have been carrying an injury for at least the past 18 months and this year it has stepped up a level. Readers of our Belgium battlefields trip will know about my neck and headaches (I'm pleased to say I am seeing a slow recovery). The outcome of my injury situation was to take on Marks' metric century challenge in two or three bites, accompanied by my brother in law (called MarkJ). 

Thanksgiving Thursday 

We started Thursday morning, at 7:30am in temperatures that averaged 27 American degrees or -3 Celcius. We both work for the same employer (a long story!), which has offices some 15-17 miles from our homes. We decided we would commute by bike, making a 37-ish mile round trip. In the UK, we've just had a period of exceptional rainfall. In some places, significant flooding, in others a steady build up to saturation point. Our location about 25 miles south east of London is currently saturated and a night of heavy rain on Tuesday night tipped several of our local rivers over the edge. 

  Riding in to work on Thursday morning, we found it an eventful journey. We both have gravel bikes ('early' Euro adopters in 2018 thanks, to Mark's influence) and our route mixes tarmac and trees. Laden with panniers heavy with laptops and work clothes, it was hard work and on several occasions we had to take care on the icy, untreated back roads. Elsewhere we found roads flooded where rivers had burst banks, notably at Wonham Mill where an overnight flood to a depth of three feet had closed the road. Despite this, two cars attempted to cross during the evening, and our commute found those two cars the next morning with wrecked engines, abandoned in the middle of the water! Expensive mistake... 

 

Fortunately our ride home in the evening was less eventful, but we still found large puddles some 40-50 feet long and deep enough to cover our feet as we rode through. 

Friday night is MTB night. 

The Surrey Hills enjoys some of the best MTB riding in the south east of the UK. A combination of good access rights and a county history of heavy woodland has resulted in a large network of riding which we can access just a mile from our front doors.

 After a day working from home, we headed out about 4:00pm in improved 41F/5C temperatures, this time meeting a friend, Lloyd for a 20 mile loop around the hills. We can cover all of that without going anywhere near any of the busy roads around us and with a clear sky we had a great, predominantly XC style ride in the darkening evening. 

(L-R) Muddy Matt, MarkJ, Lloyd

 

I'll be honest, I love night riding on MTBs, especially now technology lets us ride confidently. Despite the rain earlier in the week, the trails remain surprisingly good off-road. That said, with a name like Muddymoles you have to embrace the slop whatever the conditions! 

Our 20 mile loop included 1,800ft of climbing, taking us to the training gallops behind the Epsom race course (horse racing fans will know the Epsom Derby), before looping back to take in a couple of gnarlier trails. I won't name them because some are rather euphemistic(!), but I enjoy the vibrant eco-system we have of local riders. Inevitably, they end up attaching imaginative names to trails - so much easier than saying e.g. 'left at the next tree' when you are deep in the woods. In fact, Lloyd often plans a ride made up of acronyms for us to work out what trails he's referring to! My preference on a Friday night would have been to finish with a pint or two of local craft beer as reward, but family duties called for each of us this particular occasion. 

Wrapping it up on Sunday: 

 Totting up the miles, I now had 57 of Mark's 62 metric century miles in the bank. So it was time to head out a last time to complete the job. My brother in law, MarkJ, had picked up a head cold but managed to complete 12 miles on Saturday morning solo, so he was already basking in success.

  I found a brief window in the late afternoon between heavy rain showers. This time, another gravel ride to another interesting place, Wisley airfield. This was requisitioned in WW2 from local landowners and never returned. It was used for newly constructed Wellington bombers to take off from, as their factory at Brooklands (a few miles up the road) didn't have the space required. They were crated over, re-assembled and flown off to action. 

The airfield is now set for development for housing but remains derelict, a rather eerie place even during daylight. But, I like to include it in a loop of local heathland and canal towpaths along the Wey Navigation. It's the same area that H.G. Wells described in War of the Worlds where the Martians first landed! 

By the time I returned home, temperatures were in marked contrast to Thursday's sub-zero conditions with a pleasant 57F/14C showing on the Garmin thanks to a low sun. Positively balmy! At the finish I had another 22 miles completed, making it 79 miles for Mark's Thanksgiving Challenge. 

 My thanks go to Mark for being the prime instigator of the whole idea and best wishes to all who took part, I hope your efforts were equally helpful to both body and soul. 

Thanks for reading!

Thank you, MuddyMatt! I encourage my readers to take some time to read the MuddyMoles site. I have it linked in the right sidebar on this page. Or you can click the links in Matt's report here and bookmark the site. 

I have to say that I sometimes enjoy reading the MuddyMoles site just for the trail and place names they use in the UK. It's as if every nook and cranny has a proper name there that reads like something out of a storybook. Here we just have "hills", "flats" and miles and miles of empty farmland with no names for such places at all, for the most part. 

Next will be the traditional FN&V. Then on Saturday I will run two more VTBCR reports that I received after the ones I have already published. 

Stay tuned!

Virtual Turkey Burn Ride Report: Pedro's Ride

  This is the fourth installment of Virtual Turkey Burn reports I received this year. NOTE: I VERY lightly edited the submissions where I found a mistake. Images are credited to the authors. Thanks for reading these and for submitting a report if you did so. Remember that some of these reports fall on double-post days, so be sure to scroll down the page to make sure you don't miss any content! 

 

Gravel near Pedro in Spain.

Let's start by talking a little bit about me. I own two marvelous bikes. My personal thoughts move around to getting the “perfect” bike. One bike to rule them all (yes, I am also a Tolkien geek). The first one is an older (2004) hybrid bike: flat bars, aluminum frame, V-Brakes, 3x7 Alivio. It used to be one of my uncle's bikes. It was my present for him with my first real money, and when he died, I decided to keep it. A bit big for me (it is a Large), I included a Jones H-bar for comfort and a front rack to help carry things. It is not a nice bike, so it is perfect to commute around the town for groceries, or whatever.  I also can leave it outside without anxiety or having a heart attack.

I tried to add some km's taking my daughter to school.

Two years ago I was thinking about changing some parts and making this bike a little better. In order to keep only 2 bikes. But Rivendell piqued my interest, and the real reason I do not have one is I am not tall enough to go for 29”-700 wheels. So, I haven’t pulled the trigger for an Appalossa yet. I like the loooong wheelbase, full mechanical bits, old standards (except probably for the threaded headset that I presume too tricky to maintain. A post about old vs new system)

Mr. Guitar – Ted? Are V-Brakes still valid? And what about threaded headset? Or even 3X9? Friction shifting?  Editor's Note: I will likely post about this in January after all the end-of-year madness has passed.

My other bike is a marvelous Jones steel (S) Space Frame with truss fork. Fully mechanical, 1 x11. Aluminum rims and Hope 4 hubs. Nothing much to say more than that. In my case, I fully agree with Mr. Jeff Jones philosophy and I feel that his intentions about a bike that it is valid for most rides is correct.

With this bike I have ridden “Spain Tour’s” mountain ports, of course gravel paths, and in my level (no big jumps or something too difficult), single tracks. It is really comfortable.

Today’s ride: 

Unfortunately I choose incorrectly for this ride. Due to a high intensity week, including business travel, not only could I not ride, but I also felt really tired. But I want to take some nice photos of a different place, really near from where I live.

I am from the south of Spain, El Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz. Near Gibraltar actually.  From my front door I can find a huge amount of gravel paths connecting farmland (wine). We also have a small set of hills, really technical for practicing mtb, and some paths to connect, mixed with road, all the nearest areas.

This latest part was my objective today. The full route implies 125 km from my front door. And the day started good. Not cold, not hot. Some clouds - that said… be careful, a bit of rain can be found. My Jones was ready, the GoPro was ready for taking photos and videos, I had enough water, and a Garmin 530.

Ready to Go!

 

Let's Move… From the very beginning I didn’t find comfort, not with my position on the bike, (Ergon seat
is marvelous), but internally.  The first part of the route crosses large salt flats, from where we produce salt for all over the world. It is almost perfectly flat.

I love these views early in the mornings.

  Then, the route starts to change. The landscape becomes typical pine forests, and a constant 1% to 3% slope will accompany us to the end. This gradient will only change halfway along the route, close to the town where we would stop, with 4 slopes alternating between 7% and 10%.

 

 At this point is when I started to realize that reaching my goal was going to be really difficult. With a huge effort my colleague and I (he was fine, he is really fit), arrived in a typical bar where we had breakfast: coffee, toast with different accompaniments typical from here (all of them made from different parts of the pig), and a orange juice.

 After this short rest, I felt much better. So we start to return. What goes up, must come down.

 

But we spent a lot of time on the way there, and also, on every small ramp I needed to climb, I suffered too much. It was impossible for me to finish ☹ So, 25 km from the finish, I need to stop and we called home. Our wives came with the van to bring us home.

 

End of the story. Very sad for not achieving my goals and need to be disqualified from the Virtual Turkey Burn Ride Challenge of 2024, but happy because if God wants, I will be here next year for trying again.

I hope you enjoy the photos and the story. Stay safe, enjoy, just ride.

Wow! What a fantastic adventure! Thank you Pedro. I think the readers will agree with me and say you have more than accomplished a successful Turkey Burn Ride! 

Check in tomorrow as we will have another international report. This time from the United Kingdom! 

I'm not sure, but I may be posting one more Turkey Burn Ride Challenge Report, and if it comes in, or if one comes in unannounced, I will post those this weekend. Friday will be the traditional FN&V. 

Until then, thanks for checking these ride reports out!

Virtual Turkey Burn Ride Reports: Tom & Mike's Rides

 This is the second installment of Virtual Turkey Burn reports I received this year. ( Two-in-one today) I VERY lightly edited the submissions where I found a mistake. Images are credited to the authors. Thanks for reading these and for submitting a report if you did so. Remember that some of these reports fall on double-post days, so be sure to scroll down the page to make sure you don't miss any content! 

Tom's Turkey Burn Ride Challenge Report:

Just want to share my submission for this year’s 2024 Turkey Burn. This year was nothing fancy, just a quick 35 mile gravel loop south of town. I suppose I completed this loop several times this week, so I guess you could say I achieved the century mark in terms of mileage over the challenge period. 

Tom's bike at the intersection of Quarry Road and Aker Road.

It was a cold one; I want to say it was hovering around 10F when I left my house this morning. Nothing real interesting to report, though I did find an empty can of Yuengling Lager on the intersection of Quarry (and Aker Road), which I found pretty interesting considering you can only find that on the east coast and select states. 

Way to go, Tom! You are made of much tougher stuff than I! Those winds were no joke and there is NOTHING to hide you from the elements out there, as you well know. 

Next up we have a report from Tennessee sent to me by Mike.

Mike's Virtual Turkey Burn Challenge Ride Report:

Greetings from Columbia (Muletown), TN! It has been a chilly weekend but I was able to eek out a metric. 

 

Went out to my local mountain bike trails at Chickasaw Trace. Columbia Cycling Club puts a ton of work into the trails and they are a blast. It is my favorite time of year to ride single track. The thin layer of frost in the ground grips like Velcro. It was 19 degrees when I left the house. That’s pretty cold by Tennessee standards.

 One morning, I took the fat bike out for a random spin around town. Took a few pics of our adopted home town of Columbia. It’s a really fun place.

I have a feeling this |"TED" guy and I just might get along! (Guitar Ted)

 

 

Was hoping to get out for some miles on Natchez Trace Parkway but my blood has thinned out quite a bit since I left Illinois. Since the weather has not been cooperating, I did have to get in some “cheater” miles on the spin bike to finish my metric. 

Happy Thanksgiving to y’all!

Thanks Mike! Tennessee looks pretty frosty and HILLY! Good to see that you got out and made it work!

Stay tuned for reports from across the ocean tomorrow and Thursday!